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Friday, December 16, 2011

PolitiFact and the GOP Candidates

PolitiFact is an online 'non-partisan' (they say, I'm not sure I believe them) rating system for leading politicians. They rate whether the things people say or do about history, people, etc. are factually accurate. The breakdown is True, Mostly True, Half True, Mostly False, False, and Pants on Fire. I thought it might be interesting to see what sort of ratings different GOP candidates are getting. You could, if you like, search for any other big name in politics and see their ratings as well. I report here the average truth ratings as a true to lie ratio (True through Half True versus Mostly False through Pants on Fire). Caveat: I can only include what is on Politifact. In my mind there are more controversial statements which can and should be evaluated.

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For a democracy to be successful and for government to reflect and uphold the will of the people, it is imperative that citizens take their voting responsibility seriously enough to be well informed. The first step is understanding that there is no such thing as fair and balanced coverage anymore, including the polls and fact-checkers. Including both sides in your sources of information is essential to forming an educated opinion. Both sides leave things out. For example, the leftist news media leaves out the good qualities in Republicans, the Tea Party, conservative causes, etc.

Comments are welcome but civility is required, hence the blog owner approval requirement. We need to have a discussion across partisan divides, not a shouting match. No name-calling will be approved for publishing in the comments.